Photo Credit Sun Yunfan
Today, genre-bending multidisciplinary electronic duo, Shanghai Restoration Project, return with their new single ‘Tactile Sonic Glide’. Alongside the new single the band have announced a new album due out 8th November entitled ‘Flashbacks In A Crystal Ball’, which will be released via Underground Culture Music.
The new single was premiered with Pop Matters yesterday, who described the single as “not frantic, but cosmic, an expanse of wondrous melody that serves as an aural isolation tank for the overwhelmed.”
Speaking about the single the band said, “‘Tactile Sonic Glide’ is a reaction to the increasingly fragmented and mindless sound-bite culture we live in. The fifteen minute piece is an invitation to a musical meditation, where thoughtful melodic development, meaningful transitions, gratifying stretches and breathable pauses can happen. Synth, vocals, kalimba, bass, and percussion instruments freely rise and fall in the soundscape, allowing for a unique experience on each listen.”
HEAR/SHARE ‘TACTILE SONIC GLIDE’ HERE
Shanghai Restoration Project
‘Flashbacks In A Crystal Ball’
8th November
Underground Culture Music
Pre-order
1. Sudden Rush Of Memories
2. Tactile Sonic Glide
3. Time Gambler
4. Jazzy Grandma
5. Dance School At Dusk
6. Soft Diamond
7. LIC Colour Blast
8. Beeswax Chamber
9. Elegy For Wave Organ
Shanghai Restoration Project (SRP) is the Brooklyn based electronic duo of Dave Liang and Sun Yunfan. SRP’s genre-bending, border-traversing, retro-futuristic soundscape often uses poetic melodies to draw audiences into imaginary settings where unexpected adventures unfold with a dissonant and polyrhythmic palette. In the shadow of murmuring outer space particles, one might encounter atonal analog synth lines against the backdrop of a tropical storm, household item percussion, and lost and found street sounds from around the world.
Initially inspired by the 1930s Shanghai jazz scene, SRP started out in 2006 as a solo project of Dave Liang. Having cut his teeth as a producer within the Bad Boy Records system, Liang’s early works such as Instrumentals: Day – Night stood out for their organic synthesis of Chinese instrumentation and hip-hop. With Zodiac, SRP began expanding stylistically and brought choral music, electronica, and folk into its lexicon.
In 2011 Liang met multidisciplinary artist Sun Yunfan and the two soon started collaborating – first on music videos and live performance visuals and later on songwriting and production, beginning with 2015’s playful fusion album Life Elsewhere featuring jazz vocalist Zhang Le.
In 2017, the duo released R.U.R., a dark futuristic electronic album that imagines a world in which humans have been replaced by robots, who are trying to understand what led to its predecessors’ extinction. This release marked the group’s shift toward introspection: how to dream a different future and find balance in a changing world.
The group’s upcoming album Flashbacks in a Crystal Ball (Nov 8, 2019) is a collection of songs about “aha” moments: moments of reflection or intuition where we suddenly see the world in a different light. These moments are sprinkled throughout our lives: the instant children realize their parents are flawed, the acknowledgement that a pipe dream is no longer worth the pursuit, the revelation of truth in the passing of a loved one, or the decision to dedicate a lifetime to a craft.
SRP has been featured on The 405, BBC Radio London, NTS Live, Electronic Sound, NPR Music, Little White Lies, & Last Call with Carson Daly. Past live performances include Rio Cinema London, Silencio Paris, Amsterdam Dance Event, and the Great Wall of China. Most recently, the group’s music appeared in an Apple commercial as well as the film “Have a Nice Day,” which premiered at the Berlin Film Festival and was released by MUBI in the UK. The film’s soundtrack received positive mentions from VICE, NPR, Variety, and The Guardian.
